Halfway Dead
by rose pricks
Summary: Post Eclipse, Jacob finds something while running that no one knows what to do with, not even Carlisle...Rated T for mild language and violence...I just realized this is only relevant until August 2, but its fun for now.
1. Don't Think

AN: First fanfic, I really don't know if this is any good at all

_**AN: First fanfic, I really don't know if this is any good at all. Please, if anyone reads this review and let me know if I should continue. Really just thought I would try this out, this story has been knocking around in my head for a while. I have a rough idea where it will go if I decide to continue, but I am very open to suggestions. Also, if anyone wants to be a Beta for a first timer, let me know!**_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Jacob, or the world in which he lives, they are all Stephenie Meyer's, I'm just playing_

As I ran through the forest, I tried desperately to blot out my thoughts. _Don't think…don't think…thinking hurts. If you think, you'll just think of….don't think, don't think, don't think._ The pounding of my paws on the ground were the only sound my over-sensitive hearing could pick up. The rhythm was comforting, the consistent pattern of the earth molding beneath me, my will exerted on _something_, it was more than I could ask for at the moment. Well, that and to not think.

See, the issue with thinking is that I have a problem with a one track mind. It wasn't really like this before, sure, I fell in love and it consumed my time and thoughts, but not like this. No, this was something…when the very essence of you is killed, it marks you. It more than marks you; it carves you out, digs into places you didn't even know you had. It is worse when that part of you, the person that _is _that part of you willing chooses death, its even worse. Trust me, I know. I held out hope, maybe she would change her mind, maybe _he _would change his mind…again. When I got the invitation, it was…

I barely notice the ground rushing up to meet me, you would think I would be used to this by now, but, this is the price I pay for thinking. I pull myself up and shake off the dry and brittle leaves. It's been a long time since I was in the sodden forest of the Olympic Peninsula, how long, I don't know. I just pick myself up and concentrate on the loping sound of my running again. _Don't think…don't think…don't think. _I was on my two hundred and forty second "don't think" when my head whipped around so quickly my body had no choice but to follow. That smell, I haven't experienced that since, well, since as long as I have been running. My head spun in confusion, _no it can't be, not here, can I not be left alone!? _My stomach revolted, the sensitivity to this smell regained from so long away. Most importantly, above all other reactions, a growl rumbled out of my chest, the hair stood up on a ridge along my back and my teeth were exposed in all their fatal brutality as my body prepared to fight, prepared to fulfill its one true purpose. My body lowered as I crept along the forest floor, through the open spaces between the large oaks so different from my home, toward the scent that both repulsed and called me.

My ears pricked as my body stilled, it appears I am too late. Sounds of a battle reach me, but already they are dying out. The end has been decided, has someone beat me to this? Who would know about this, who would know about killing vampires other than another wolf, and it certainly was not one of my kind. Even if from another pack (and I have not heard of another pack in North America) I would recognize the sounds, pick up the scent, and there was not yet smoke. No wolf would do his duty and not complete the task. Unless...possibly they were hurt, lying unable to finish, watching in horror as the leech reassembled itself and returned the killing favor. _Whoa there Jacob, all this no thinking has resulted in an overactive imagination. _Of course, I would still have picked up the familiar smell of a wolf, and the sounds of the fighting were just _different._

The not knowing sped my steps. All sounds of struggle were dead and I advanced more quickly, rounding to the flank, still attempting to preserve some surprise if need be. It was then that I heard a faint rustling, like someone dragging something over the ground, accompanied by soft quiet moans that anything with ears less sensitive than mine would not have been able to pick up. The wind shifted and my body reacted for the second time in ten minutes to the sickly sweet stench of a vampire. _Great, I've stepped into a trap, walked right into the middle of a leech fight. I should turn tail and get out of here as quickly as possible and let them destroy one another. _That was the longest coherent thought I've had since my heart picked suicide. I was only mildly irritated that a vampire had pulled me out of my self induced idiocy.

In the time it took to think and then think about actually thinking without pain, my body had calmed some, although it was still prepped for battle. I breathed in again and noticed something different in the air, something I had not been able to catch in the throes of my initial reaction. The smell was not sickly as in every other vampire I've come into contact with. It was almost..._pleasant. No, there is no way that's a vampire, my stomach isn't heaving and I don't wish for a nice can of garbage to freshen the air..._but my body had responded, there is only one thing on the earth that can bring out that involuntary reaction in a wolf, and that, of course, is a vampire. As I crept through the trees I could peer through the brush that formed the outer wall of a small clearing. What I saw shocked me to the very core of my being.

A girl, very pale, almost glowing was on the point of death. I could tell her arm was broken. No, shattered is a better term, as it was a completely amorphous rope hanging from the left side of her body. She had a vicious gash in her side that stretched from under her arm to her hip, and she was losing a lot of blood, more that I had ever seen in my life. Her face was battered, and the hamstring of her right leg was slashed through. Yet still, on her hands and knees, using what limbs she could command work for her, she was dragging chunks of white glittering stone into a pile. I of course knew instantly what she was doing, but the smell still held me back and it looked as if she were almost done, with both her task and her life. Maybe it would be better if she perished as well, this one I could not figure out.

Once she finally managed to get all the pieces of the parasite into a pile, she groped for something in her left pocket. She had to struggle mightily as she only had one good arm and was reaching across her body into the opposite pocket, but at last she pulled out something that reflected the sunlight brightly and smiled a little, a zippo. Her injuries were getting to her, honestly I was surprised she lasted this long. I stayed only to finish the business she started if she was unable, and perhaps add her to the pile, who knew? She had fallen to the ground and was fumbling with the lighter, which was still hard to light because she was using one hand, striking it awkwardly against her dirty and torn jeans. At last she had a flame going, but I could see on her face she was not going to make it another second. I stepped forward into the clearing, telling myself it was to be sure the demon was destroyed. I did not want acknowledge any pride I felt watching her fight so determinedly against the lighter. Did not think about how touched I was by her duality of brokenness and strength, I did not want to consider that she was my soul reflected physically.

As I appeared in through the brush she looked up at me as she fell forward, hands in the pile, lighter still in hand. I thought she was done, her last act to shove the flame into the stinking pile that was already starting to smolder. Her eyes opened for what I thought was the last time and the deepest green eyes I have ever seen look up at me. They pierced right into my eyes and it almost seemed as though she saw _me. _I saw recognition, fear and, was that _relief, _sweep over her face in rapid succession before her stunning eyes closed again. She sighed out her last breath and with a small smile that has hardly more than a twitch of muscle said so softly that again I was grateful for my wolf hearing, "at least you'll let it burn."

An undeniable panic gripped me as I saw her still and the flames began to lick up her arms. The next thing I knew she was in my _arms _and I was running again repeating "don't think" only this time it had a different meaning, I did not want to stop to actually consider what had I done. It also had a different cadence _don't...think, don't...think _my mind automatically adjusting its rhythm to that of my two feet slapping the forest floor. I ran, feeling the wind on my skin for the first time in more than half a year and yet still I was telling myself not to think.


	2. Confusion

I ran for only what seemed like only a moment before I came across a trail. I halted immediately; wary now of what else was lurking in this forest. As I looked around it became apparent this was where the odd girl in my arms had initially met the monster she had so recently disposed of. I could smell the bloodsucker still in the air and on the ground and trees, almost as if it had smeared the earth where it had walked. It would never get that chance again. I still had the girl clutched tightly to my body, though by all rights she should be dead by now. Her wounds were egregious and my running probably had not made her more comfortable that is if she could still feel anything. I stood absolutely still for a moment, listening, feeling, then there it was, the slight hitch of a breath sucked in. She was alive, but just barely.

The panic hit me again; there was nothing I could do to save her, she was going to die right here in my arms. I was in the middle of the damn forest, stark naked, clinging to a dying girl that I knew nothing about except she had fought bravely against my mortal enemy and prevailed. That and the fact that she had initially pulled responses out of my body that should be reserved for vampires. I could still smell it, the faint sweet smell that all vampires have, but this was not thick and cloying, it had the same notes, the same tenor if you will, but it was lighter, almost fresh. I would never get a chance to talk to her, to ask about her. As my panic receded, I realized I did not know _what _she was. There is no way this girl was purely human. No one would be able to stand up to a leech in that manner. What person would even know how? Humans aren't able to tear vampires apart with there bare hands, and even if this girl had a knife, it would have been as useless as cooked pasta. I knew she was no wolf, what wolf would fight in human form? So did that mean…

**NO!! **This girl was _not_ a vampire. There was no way I had just saved one of _them. _I stared down at the creature in my arms. _OK, OK calm down Jacob, look at the evidence, THINK for a second. _Wow, there's a change, trying to get my self to think when I had spent the vast majority of my conscious hours actively avoiding it. _Ok, the signs: The smell is the most obvious sign of a vampire to me, but that's a little confusing at the moment, move on. Her skin. _My memory flashed back to the clearing. As I peered through the brush I had seen her in the direct sunlight. I remember the dizzying sense of light being refracted all around the clearing in scattered patterns from the pile of disassembled vampire she was dragging together, the jumble causing weird angles that reflected light crazily all around. Did all that light come from the pile of stinking stone, did I miss something? _No, I looked right at her. _I remember thinking that she was so pale that she was almost glowing, but she was definitely not sparkling.

_Her Eyes. _There, that's the final proof. I distinctly remember her looking at me with vivid green eyes. They were the color of bright new spring leaves, so vibrant they are almost neon and they seemed to look through me. Yes, I was clearly struck by her eyes, because it was as if she saw _me, _the me within the wolf, the me that has not seen the light of day for many months. _Well, that is until now_ I thought as I looked down ruefully at my bare legs and muddy feet. There was no way I had misremembered those eyes. She shifted in my arms, so faint that if I had still be running there was no way I would have noticed the movement…She was coming around. "Who _are _you" I murmured almost to myself as she breathed out a soft moan. I saw her eyelids flicker and open briefly and I almost dropped her. Staring back at me were the most brilliant blue eyes I had ever witnessed. They were the color of the sea on a very cold clear day, a blue I had never seen in another person before. As I flinched and gasped at the sight of her eyes, it seemed that she became aware of me for the first time since awakening and promptly passed out again. How could I have gotten this wrong? There is only one other creature I have come across that has eyes that change color in such a dramatic fashion…

But there were her injuries to consider as well. If fate was smiling and a vampire was injured, it would not bleed. This girl was bleeding profusely; in fact, it could very well be the ultimate cause of her eminent demise. I looked down at her face again, strange, it was already the deep purple and sickly yellow colors of healing, with a beating like the one she took, she should not progress to that stage for many days, maybe weeks. She was still unconscious though and her arm and cuts were very bad. I steeled myself to look at these offensive gashes as I rearranged her in my arms to get a better look I was struck by the fact that although they were bad, her wounds were not nearly as dire as I remembered.

As I was pondering these signs, trying to puzzle out what exactly it was that I saved from the fire and now carried in my arms, I cam upon her camp. I knew immediately it was hers, her distinct smell was all around, as were her almost untraceable tracks. There was a small black circle where I assumed she had lit a fire the night before, and a pack, that was it. No tent, no bed roll, nothing but her pack. I laid her down on the soft leaves and considered my situation. I knew she could not wake up with me standing here naked as a jay bird and expect a strong reaction. It did not look as though she was going to wake up anytime soon and if she did, she was not going anywhere with that hamstring. I knew she needed medical attention, but because I was not sure what I was dealing with, as well as my indecency, I knew there was no way a hospital was a choice at the moment. I needed supplies though so I took one last look at her to make sure I had made her as comfortable as possible and began to run, phasing before my second foot was able to follow the first.

Finding an outpost was easy enough, I had noticed several of them on occasion while I was running, the smell reaching my nose from far away, allowing me to give a wide berth. I raced back about ten miles to the southwest and found what I was looking for. Apparently I was in Canada as it was a Mounties outpost. A few buildings, an airstrip and a single prop plane sitting silently nearby. Crap, that meant someone could be home. I snuck around the back of the few buildings in the area and carefully sniffed the air. Someone had been here recently, but was gone now. I phased quickly and broke the locks on the windows as I pulled upward and hopped in. I found a pack in the closet and began taking what I needed. Clothes were on the top of the list (thankfully this guy was a big man) as well as first aid. There wasn't much, but I would make do. I also found water purifying tablets as well as a flashlight that would never need batteries, the kind you can shake to activate.

With the pack filled I phased back and began to run, the pack strapped to one side of my shoulder, almost like a saddle bag that I was wearing on the front. I cringed at the equine comparison, glad none of my pack brothers could see this, although they would when I contacted them next. I did not even hear the rhythm of my paws on the ground as I rushed forward. I began to push myself harder and harder. This was the fastest I had run since the beginning, since I was actually trying to out run the situation I had left behind. I was again filled with panic verging on terror as I headed back. _What if she's gone? _That's silly, how could she walk away? _What if an animal found her, a bear or wolf…what if the leech had a mate?_ My mind flashed back to the redheaded leech that we had fought the previous year. Hatred and terror filled me as I remembered the crazed determination in her face, as I remembered the lengths to which they would go to avenge a mate's death…_and I left her there, in her own camp with her smell permeating the area laid out as if she were on a platter._ I ran faster.

I reached the camp in three quarters of the time it had taken me to get to the outpost. To my immense relief, she was just the way I had left her. Cautiously, I tested the air, maybe someone, some_thing_ had found her and was waiting to see who had helped her back, as it was obvious she did not get back on her own. I looked down and saw my tracks around the clearing. My feet _and _paws were evident all around. _How careless are you going to be today Jacob? If this is your idea of taking care of her, you should have just left her in the fire._ Even as I berated myself, I flinched at the image of her arms incased in the pieces of the bloodsucker, apparently about to burn right along with it. I moved nearer to where she lay to inspect her at close range. She was healing at a remarkable pace but was still out cold. I decided to go and hunt for food, I was starving and if she ever woke up, she would need nourishment as well.

I was just going to go and get the first animal I saw, I did not want to be away from the camp for a long period of time. I knew my smell was all around now as well but I did not know if it would scare away or attract other interested parties. With this thought my steps sped up, though they stayed silent. The first animal I saw was a bear. _Great, I was looking for a dear or something similar, but here we go…_ Pushed by my own hunger as well as my motivation to get back to the strange girl I was able to take the bear down much quicker than I would have thought possible. I was actually the bigger animal, with much more strength in my body; I don't know why I doubted my abilities.

I drug the carcass back and phased on the edge of the clearing, darting in quickly to grab some clothing before striding back over to the girl. I checked her again and cleaned some of her cuts although they were already more than half healed. This corroborated my feeling that this girl was not merely human, but did nothing to help solve the mystery. I lit a fire and began to dress the bear while the fire settled and became suitable for cooking. As I was making my initial cuts, all my doubts from before came rushing back at me. _The smell, the changing eyes…_ I knew that I wanted to talk to this person, and I could only do that if she were up and able to talk. I drained the blood into a cup I found in her pack Itold myself that if my worst fears about her were true, I would easily be able to destroy her in her injured state. No matter what I said though, when it came down to it I was saving blood for what could or could not be a weird vampire variant, hoping to keep it alive. I almost gagged as the cup filled.

As I sat the cup by the fire, almost in the glowing embers, to keep it warm my stomach clinched again as I thought about what I was actually doing. _Don't think, don't think, don't think…well, that familiar. _I finished dressing the bear, mourning all the waste but knowing there was nothing I could do about it. I skewered several large chunks on a green limb the thickness of my pinkie finger and set them to roast on a makeshift spit. I heard the stirring of the girl and went to her side, she was waking up again, I was hoping this time it would be more permanent. I heard her sniff the air and swallow noisily, then inhale through her nostrils again. This time her eyes went open and she looked at me with terrified midnight blue eyes, "Please, its not, I'm not…please don't kill…" she was out again but it was enough to increase both my concerns and curiosity.

_One way to test this I guess…_I gulped and picked up the warm cup. I held up the girl's head and put the cup to her lips. She drank deeply. My body froze in shock as her body accepted the blood. I did not know what to do. Given this confirmation, even in human form, my body was quivering for battle, or at least to destroy this _thing_ I held in my arms. Yet, there had to be something I was missing.

The cup was about half way empty when she sighed and parted her eyelids again. She peered up at me with intense green eyes the color of spring leaves. Horror and terror with a very faint undercurrent of satisfaction reflected in those arresting eyes. My body acted on its own, I could not form the thoughts to control it. I lifted my hand to her face…offering the cup again? She shook her head slightly and closed her eyes murmuring, "I'll heal now, please…_please_ don't…until we talk…it's not…no more blood…"She drifted out of consciousness again. I sat there and stared at her for hours, until the bear meat burnt to chunks of solid black mass and eventually fell into the fire, until the sun had gone to bed, until the stars had half completed their nightly path across the sky. Just staring and thinking…_what the hell?_


	3. Important Conversation

**AN: Sorry, this took a little longer than I thought. I know it hasn't been that long, but I hate waiting on updates! It actually took a couple of tries to get this right, I'm still not sure everything is exactly right, but I figured I would go ahead and put it out there. ****Please review****, I like to hear how you're liking it (or not) I don't want any flames, but if you have constructive criticism for me, or ideas on the story, I would love to hear it. OK longest Author's Note EVER is now over.**

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, Jacob or anything…Stephenie, please don't sue…I'm just playing in your world for a bit!

_What the hell? _I sat and stared at the girl as though I could lift the answers I needed straight from her still form. I could not keep myself from running in circles in my head; _she killed a vampire, but so did the _Cullens, _her smell doesn't make me sick, but it sure got a reaction out of my wolf side, she drank _blood_…. _It was that last one that I just could not get my head around. I kept seeing over and over in my head my hand holding the cup to her lips and her not even flinching in response, but drinking deeply. All through the night, I went back and forth, she drank blood: kill her, she killed a vampire: don't kill her. Then there were her last words as she slipped back into unconsciousness, begging me not to kill her, pleading with those vivid green eyes. Eyes that had just a moment before been midnight blue…_STOP IT!! _The hours of thinking in circles, arguing with myself and reexamining the same few scraps of evidence I had built up into a frustration so strong I felt as though my mind would explode. I am amazed I did not phase right there on the rock, instead I remained absolutely still as I had all night with a frantic duel going on in my head. That's when I heard a stir.

The noise was so faint, I almost thought I was making it up, I was so desperate to end this eternal night that I was imagining her waking to talk to me. Then I heard it again. The girl moved slightly on the blanket she was wrapped in and to my surprise, sat up and stared at me with recognition in her eyes. "You're a werewolf." It was not a question, but a statement of fact. "Why…how…you didn't kill me?" It struck me in that moment that the fact that I had not killed her shocked her when my being a werewolf did not even make her blink…definitely some kind of vampire.

This certainty struck as though someone took a baseball bat to my head. This is what I had been denying all night, what I was praying wasn't true (I just did not want to see another vampire in the world, it had nothing to do with the fact that the thought of killing this girl made me sick to my stomach) and this girl just sat up and brought it all crashing down with her first words. A growl exploded out of my chest and I leapt up, the first movement I had made in many hours. To my absolute shock and astonishment, the girl sprung out of the blanket and was on a tree limb before I could pounce. My shock nearly knocked me off balance and it was enough time to quail my emotions and deeper, instinctive reactions. It also gave me time to realize that my shock was not only from her astonishing leap to the branch some 20 feet over her head or her rocky steady balance as she crouched on the limb which was only about 4 inches around, it was in part due to my remembrance of her wounds. With that I was right back where I started, where I had been all night. If she were a vampire, she would not have had wounds like that, she would not have bled. If she were human, she would have died from them.

"Come on down…we need to talk. You know I am a werewolf, I think its time you returned that knowledge in kind…who…what are you?"

It seemed that she was not coming down. I remembered my growling and shaking and I have to say in her position I would have stayed put as well. I began to settle in for a long wait, talking her down and trying to convince her that I would not try to kill her. I looked up at her again and she pierced me with her stare. I don't mean that figuratively, she looked at me and I felt a pain rip through me starting in the front of my head and racing down until it settled in my chest before finally burning away. I staggered back, my hand gripping a nearby rock outcropping to keep myself up right. I ground my teeth together over a scream that was trying to rip its way out of my throat. She looked away and then without another word, she jumped down, landing lightly on the balls of her feet. She sauntered over to the campfire and looked over at me expectantly. "OK, so you're not going to try to kill me so how do you want to do this, do you want to hear my life story, or do you want to ask questions and skip right to the information you want?" I grimaced at the word _try _she slipped in, for some reason getting defensive. If I wanted to kill her…then I remember the scene from the clearing, her dragging the pieces of what was obviously a vampire to burn. I had not seen her in action so to speak, just the aftermath of a brutal battle she fought by herself. My mind also flicked to the leap she made straight up off the ground and I looked at her a little differently.

"Questions. What are you?" I spoke in a clipped, efficient manner, trying to cover the curiosity and fear in my voice, what would I do with the answers I got either way? She did not even hesitate, "Vampire killer." I waited for a few beats for more information and she just looked back at me with those unfathomable eyes. "How? I mean how did you do it, you clearly aren't human, what _are_ you?" I knew I was repeating myself, but the first answer was so unsatisfactory I wanted to go for round two. She sighed and settled back a little bit and gave me a sideways glance. "I know you're a werewolf but how much do you _know_ about vampires?" Again, my hackles went up (figuratively speaking, I was not in wolf form but having experienced the real thing, I know the feeling is very similar) "I know how to kill them." She patiently waited for me to go on, as the seconds ticked by I finally gave in. "I know they can't be hurt with weapons, humans have, they are harder than granite, they live off of the blood of others, their eyes change based on hunger, they _sparkle _in the sunlight, they have venom which can paralyze a victim with pain but also change someone into a leech as well, some of them have special abilities that just PISS ME OFF!" As I was listing the disgusting attributes of the parasites, I didn't realize this was the first time I had allowed myself to think of them in a very long time. With that came the reminder of all _they_ had taken from me. As the pain crashed down on me I began to speak faster, on attribute leading into another, the volume of my voice going up with each item until I was yelling. I came back to myself and looked over at the girl to gauge her reaction. I did not want to frighten her, but at the same time I did.

"Well, I can tell you at least have some experience. You would not believe the pups I have come across who think they know, but have no idea what vampires are really like, how to efficiently kill them and not get hurt in the process. Often I find that whatever vampire or vampires sparked their phasing moved on so quickly they did not have much, if any contact. Poor boys, lives turned upside down for nothing, didn't even get a chance to fulfill their purpose…Sorry, I ramble sometimes, please, forgive me. So did you track the vamps that sparked your phase?" Without thinking, I answered, "No, I didn't track them, they lived about fifteen minutes from my house, from my reservation." Her shocked expression was staring back at me when I glanced up. "You mean they stayed?! And you LET THEM LIVE?! What kind of werewolf are you?" My inquisitive look hardened into a glare, "Its complicated" I gritted out between clinched teeth. I noticed my hands quivering, I must have spent too much time as a wolf, I felt my control had slackened over the months, I was still had more power over the phase than Paul or Jared, but for me it was getting perilously close to the edge. It was then that I realized she had failed to completely answer my question and had managed to get information out of _me _in the process. "Tell me what you are, I'm losing patience." I blasted her with my most icey glare, glowering at her in hopes that I intimidated her into answering the question. And, if I were being true to myself, I was hoping to scare her into thinking I was all a werewolf should be.

"OK, OK, where to start?"

"How old are you?"

"Wow, you should know better than to ask a lady that question." _Was she trying to be _funny_? _I glared at her again, trying to intimidate her in hopes she would give me a straight answer. "It's not a hard question." She looked at, rather _into_ me again and her face became serious. "I was born in the spring of 1786, on the vernal equinox." I could feel the blood leak out of my face as my features settled into a stony expression. I crossed my arms over my chest and took a deep breath, "Go on."

"OK. During my lifetime, I was pretty normal, just a regular girl trying to live her life. I was married at my parents' behest, but the man was nice enough. He was actually kind to me and encouraged my education. He was in love with the modern way of thinking, and thought if I were going to run his household properly, raise his children to be enlightened thinkers, I should have an education myself. Plus, he actually liked to talk to me and valued education for education's sake. He was a kind man." I stared at her, barely able to believe the transformation that was taking place on the girl's face. I had not even realized there was a hard look about her face until I saw it soften in remembrance of her former life, a life that took place more than two centuries ago. "I was 20 and had been married for three years and I was _happy_. I wondered from time to time why no children came, but knew that God would bless when he was ready, now I am so thankful that didn't happen, but I jump ahead. As I was saying, I was 20 and happy, I had a kind husband, activities to which I could devote my time and be productive and close friends. It was one such friend that would be my demise.

"I was had met a gentleman in our town, a man of great learning, who seemed more than willing to talk to me and actually _listen _to my ideas. We became great friends, spending hours in the market debating one thing or another. My husband also knew this man and knew him to be good and pure in his intentions, therefore let me associate with him as I wished. I trusted this man like no other I had in my life, my husband notwithstanding. To this day, I don't know how it is that I did not see it, I was unusually perceptive about people's true natures and intentions, even back then…" My mind flinched at this statement, did this mean she carried a power as well, I thought back to her penetrating looks. It was at this point I realized she was gathering herself together to finish her tale. In spite of myself I could feel the tension building, something obviously had happened.

Her faced hardened as she continued, "Vile deceiver, I _loved _him, not in a romantic way, thought the good Lord and the Devil himself knows he was beautiful enough. No, I loved him as a friend, the truest kind, the completion of my own soul. Its hard to explain how it wasn't romantic, but it wasn't." With a pang my thoughts were brought around to Bella, _Holy shit, Bella, Bella, Bella…_I could feel myself spiraling wildly out of control, that was the first time I had thought her name since, well since her suicide (that's how I thought of it at least, she might as well have jumped off a cliff…) "it was the happiest day of my life, I was beginning to suspect I was going to have a child, but I wasn't sure. It was really early, in fact I had no _real _reason to suspect, I was a few days late, but I could _feel _it, deep in my soul, I carried life. I could not share this with Milo, it was too early for that and I did not want to get his hopes up should it prove to be false, but I could talk to _him _about it. That day I met him in the village square and he looked at me and his eyes went black. I was so taken aback that I could not work up a scream as he picked me up and carried me into the woods, so fast that I doubt anyone really saw us, just a blur if they were really paying attention." By this point she was so lost in her story, I might not have existed. She was reliving what was probably the most emotionally and physically painful experience anyone could go through and she was fully pulled in. Abruptly she looked at me.

"You know a lot about vampires, did you know their venom breaks down?" I looked at her dumbly. "Yeah, I wasn't aware either, well at that point I did not know anything about vampires except what was told to me in childhood stories that I took to be the false presentations of the dangers of the night and sexuality put forth by the church." She was sidetracked again, a trend I was noticing, and I quietly cleared my throat. She looked up at me and was brought back to the present. Briskly, she continued.

"I think he thought he had killed me, I used to wish to God he had. I shouldn't have survived. He had ripped into my neck and was taking my blood in huge greedy gulps and slowly the world faded away." The hair stood on the back of my neck and my body tensed for a battle, even though it was a two hundred year old story. "I was at the very edge of consciousness when I felt him fling to the ground, and he let a feral scream rip from his lungs that shook the tress and the very earth below me. Then he ran, so fast that to my blurred and half closed eyes it seemed as though he just disappeared. He left me lying on the forest floor like so much waste." She sneered out the last sentence and I began to see her face harden, as if she were retreating into herself in preparation of remembering what was to come.

"Then the burning began." She shivered slightly as she whispered these words. "So painful, I had no power; all I could do was lay there. I was halfway dead, just enough of a heartbeat to push the venom through my system but not enough to allow me to thrash about or even let out a moan, little alone the screams that were tearing through my head. For three days I laid there, suspended between life and death, praying for the end. Toward the end of the third, I began to feel my body heal, but the burning continued into the next day. Each day, the pain lessened even as my strength grew. On the fifth day, I could turn my head, I had never expected to exert my will over any of my body again, I felt as though it were a miracle. I laid there for seven days, then on the seventh day, I came more sharply into focus, as though every sense I had was sharpened, my body went from completely useless to as tense as a tightly strung bow in an hour."

"But I thought the transformation only took three days?"

"Ah, so you know even more than I thought. It does, but like I said, I was halfway dead. He had gotten all but the last of my life source, just enough for me to hang on in pure torture. Like I said before, apparently, vampire venom is only potent for three days. After that it begins to slowly break down into harmless chemicals found in the human body naturally. Of course, not many people, or vampires I suspect, know about this, because what makes it past three days? Someone unfortunate enough to be bitten is either dead or changed in three days, so who knew?" _Is she for real? Vampire venom…break down? _I tried to keep the skepticism off of my face.

"I _know_ who would have thought? I would be my luck to be drained to the exact point that my heart was still beating enough to keep me alive, but not enough to get the venom all the way though my system before it began to break down. So here I am, some kind of freak that isn't vampire and sure as hell isn't human."

I could not believe what I was hearing. "So why didn't you go and find your _friend_?" "Oh trust me I tried. It took a few months to figure myself out, what I could do, what I couldn't, how things worked. Then I started tracking him down, killing him was the sole reason for existence." I blanched at this, she turned her face toward me and for a brief moment, I was given a glimpse into the intense hatred she harbored in her soul. "Tracking him meant finding more out about what he was, eventually tracking him evolved into hunting all of them, if there is one reason I was turned into a monster, it is because I still retain some of my humanity and I am determined to eradicate all of their kind from the earth. I may never accomplish my task, but I can do what I can. I never found the bastard that did this to me. It seems that every time I would get a serious start back on his trail, I would stumble on the trail of a vampire that was right there and would get sidetracked."

"So, tell me about yourself." I said to her, not even bothering to hide the burning curiosity in my eyes. "I just told you most of what there is to know, incase you missed it here's a recap: normal, happy, bastard, halfdeath, eternity to track said bastard and all his kind." I could tell she was emotionally ragged from the recounting of this tale, but the sarcasm was the only visible signal of this.

"Well, what vampire powers do you have? What are your human limitations? What's your name?"

**AN Part II: OK so that was a little longer than the last two, hope you liked it!! (please let me know if you did, or what I can do better if you didn't)**

**One thing you should know, I never explicitly stated that Jacob imprinted on this girl**

**Also, sidenote: the song "you could be happy" by Snowpatrol is, in my opinion, Jacob's song to a T as the end of Eclipse. I meant to put that in the first chapter, but forgot. I highly suggest ya'll check it out!**


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